Mr. MASSON first pointed out in a note addressed to myself, through the late Dr. GERARD, the Pehleví signs, which he had found to stand for the words Menandrou, Apollodotou, Ermaiou, Basileos, and Soteros. When a supply of coins came into my own hands, sufficiently legible to pursue the inquiry, I soon verified the accuracy of his observation ; found the same signs, with slight variation, constantly to recur; and extended the series of words thus authenticated, to the names of twelve kings, and to six titles or epithets. It immediately struck me that if the genuine Greek names were faithfully expressed in the unknown character, a clue would through them be formed to unravel the value of a portion of the Alphabet, which might in its turn be applied to the translated epithets and titles, and thus lead to a knowledge of the language employed. Incompetent as I felt myself to this investigation, it was too seductive not to lead me to an humble attempt at its solution.

In Plate XX. are contained the whole of these corresponding legends, Greek and Pehleví, collated from a very numerous collection, and deemed to be of sufficient authenticity to be assumed as the data of this inquiry. At the risk of being thought tedious, I will proceed to detail, letter by letter, the authority upon which each member of the new alphabet is supported.

1. 9, a. No less than four names, viz. Apollodotus, Antimachus, Antilakides and Azos, commence with the Greek alpha, which in all four cases is represented by the Pehleví character 9. To this, therefore, there can be no reasonable hesitation in ascribing the value of the initial a or alif, although it will be seen presently, that there is another a more conformable with the ordinary Pehleví a. It must be remarked that the present letter only occurs at the beginning of words.

2. 7, e. Two names, Ermaios and Eucratides, begin with the epsilon, and are found in the Pehleví to have equally the initial ?; this, on consideration, may be a variation of the initial vowel above given, to endue it with the sound of e. Another form of the same letter h occurs in one or two cases, expressing u; but the examples of these being too few to inspire certainty, I merely throw out the remark as a conjecture of analogy with the application of the initial alif of the Persian.

3. P, o. The next circumstance of note is, that every word, without any exception, ends in the letter P, sometimes written P. The latter may perhaps be called the finished or capital character, bearing an analogy to the Devanagari letter, which is completed by a stroke on the top, as this is by one below: for we shall find that most of the other letters admit of the same addition. P, then, I have supposed to represent the terminal h of the Hebrew; or the short omicron of

T T

the Greek, chiefly because I find upon the later series of coins bearing native words in Greek characters, which I described in my last Essay, (JOURNAL, III. p. 436;) that every word there ended in o; and, as I then remarked, M. BURNOUF explains that sound, in the Zend, to be the constant representative of the masculine nominative termination of the Sanscrit as, or Greek os.* The letter P never occurs in the middle of a word, as far at least as my experience proves. Some resemblance exists between it and the Zend o; but no letter in the known Pehleví alphabets can be compared with it.

4. U or Y, m. Of this letter we have three examples; one initial in Menandrou; two medial, in Ermaiou and Antimachou: there can be no doubt therefore of its being equivalent to m; although it differs essentially from all the recognized forms of this letter in the Pehleví alphabets of sculptures and coins. It should be remarked, however, that in the case of Menandrou, it is affected with a vowel mark, w; which, for reasons afterwards to be brought forward, I suppose to be the short i or kasr. Sometimes a dot is seen under this letter, which

may have the power of some other vowel, probably the short a. 5. A, z, j, or y. This letter occurs in Azou, PA), and in Ermaiou PAU: wherein it represents the sound of z and of y. It is analogous therefore to the Sanscrit, which is pronounced both as j and y. The Greek and the Hebrew have only the letter z for the former sound. Nothing like this letter is found in the other Pekleví alphabets, in the same position.

6., p. Of this character, two examples are found; one in Apollodotou, p; the other in Philoxenou, PE where it probably stands in lieu of the aspirated p.

7. E, n. Of this letter we find instances in Menandrou, PEEW (Minano ?) and in the example of Philoxenou last cited. There are others less decided, and some uncertainty prevails through the apparent substitution occasionally of an 7 for an n. The Pehleví alphabet of sculptures has nearly the same form of n.

8. 7, 7, 1, P, 1, . In the Chaldaic, and its derivative alphabets, so much similitude exists between the characters representing k, b, d, and r, that it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them. On the earlier and more perfect coins before us, this difficulty is increased much by the circumstance of the dies having been cut by Greek artists, who were in all probability ignorant of the Pehleví tongue, and who therefore must have copied carelessly from imperfect samples furnished

"Dans les anciens manuscrits Zend, ô final représente la syllable Sanscrite as, comme en Páli et en Prácrit,.... l'ô long se trouve d'ordinaire à la fin d'un mot."-Obs. sur la gramm. de Bopp, par M. Eug. Burnouf.

by their native underlings. We have in our own copper coinage, similar and notorious examples of the Nágarí character so badly executed, that few even in the present day could certify the letters intended. In the more recent coins, and in proportion as the Greek deteriorates, the Pehleví improves; and our best examples are derived from the coins of the unknown ΑΖΟΣ. Guided by these, rather than by the strict analogy of the Chaldaic, I would venture to appropriate to k;

and to d; and to r. As far however as examples go, or 1 seems to stand indifferently for the two former, and for t likewise! Thus in the two last syllables of Eucratidou, we find P.. (.. tido ?) In the same of Apollodotou, we have P.. and P.. (dato ?) In Antila-kidou Ph.., the place of k is assumed by a letter, different from any hitherto found as such, and more like that we have on slender grounds set down as an s. ʼn may be the k affected by a vowel mark, or with an r, as it occurs also in Eucratidou.

It is only on convention, therefore, that I shall in future reserve 8.1, for k (and perhaps g).

9. or for d (sometimes misused for t ?).

10. or for r.

The same confusion will be perceived in the uppermost of the Nakshi-Rustam inscriptions in KER PORTER'S Travels, the most faithful representation of those antiquities which we possess. Many reasons would induce me to suppose this alphabet to be the same as ours, the k, l, d, and are so nearly allied; but the m forbids their union.

11. 2 and, . Here again is a perplexing case: the latter occupies the place of 7, in Apollodotou, Lysiou, Azilisou, Antilakidou: but the former occurs in the word for 'king' P70 (malakάo) passim. It might be an h, and the latter word PY720 (maharáo); but of this we shall have to say more anon at present I am constrained to preserve both forms under the head of 1.

12. f. This letter occurs on no coins but those bearing on the reverse the Greek ; as Kadphises, Pherros, &c. It resembles considerably the common Pehleví form of p, and is only seen on the latest groups of coins; but it is common on the inscriptions of the cylinders found in the topes by Chev. VENTURA and M. COURT, and has there frequently a foot stroke, straight or curved, as in the Y above noted.

13. a, p? Whether this letter (∞), which appears only on the latter coins of our series, in connections yet unread, be a mis-shapen variety of the f, is hard to say. It is precisely the p of the known Pehleví, and if inverted, forms the m of the same alphabet.

14. Ts. This letter rests on slight foundation; namely, the penultimate of AZILISOU PTHA) (aziliso). It is however very similar to the Arabico-Persic-Pehleví s on the Sassanian coins, given in the table of

alphabets in LICHTENSTEIN's Tentamen Palæographia Assyrio-persica. 15. and, a. This letter has so strong a likeness to the Hebrew yain, that I have been tempted at once to assign to it the sound of broad a, without any positive example in any of the Greek names of princes to warrant it. Indeed, the ain being unknown in the Greek, it could not naturally express any member of that alphabet in the names of Greek princes, which may account for its absence there; but in the native words, its use is almost constant, and it frequently precedes P, forming the diphthong áo so prevalent in Zend words. It is moreover identical in form with the a of the sculptured Pehleví inscriptions in Persia. No instance occurs of its beginning a word.

Several other letters are met with, for which counterparts in Greek cannot be so easily assigned. Some seem to be mere variations of form; but the knowledge of them will be essential before the writing on the cylinders can be decyphered.

16. seems to terminate words, and may therefore be equivalent to P. On the coin Pl. XX. No. 32, the combination 3 occurs, which bears a strong resemblance to the word malak, as written in the ordinary form of Pehleví; but if two languages were exhibited on one coin, the distinction would have been more marked.

17. 1, in some cases seems a badly written 1: in others it takes the place of E, n; as in PELU minano. In some examples it would be best explained as a vowel, as in the first syllable of Eucratidou .. Ir, also found written.... 17; and both these forms approach that of the Pehleví vowels e and u.

18.. This letter may naturally be supposed to be a variation in writing of, which I have imagined to be the letter k, or d, affected with the vowel mark i; but so many examples may be shewn in which they represent t or ti, that perhaps both forms should be properly given to that letter.

19. f. This letter constantly occurs on the Pherrou coins, and on them only. It may be the inverted; but as the form also occurs once on the coins, and very frequently on the cylinders, it can hardly be denied a distinct existence. I have no authority for its value.

20. S. This letter is found representing the Greek χ in Antimachou; it has a considerable likeness to the ch of the common Pehleví.

:

21. h. The curve at the lower end of the second stroke of this letter alone distinguishes it from the h, or p; on the cylinders it generally has the curve the tail is there extended below the line, and sometimes looped. 22. ; may be a variation of the supposed s, T; or it may be the k affected by a vowel mark: it is a common letter on the cylinders. Sometimes the hook is introduced on the opposite side of the stem, thus, and this form may be a different vowel affection of the or k.

23. . This mark, which wears rather the look of an ornament, is found on the coins having Hercules for the reverse, and only on them. I should not have included it among the letters, had it not so closely resembled the Arabico-Persic form of a, depicted in LICHTENSTEIN'S table. He there states it to belong to the Sassanian coins, but I have not remarked it on any that I have examined, either in books or cabinets.

24. . This letter may be a variety of A, or it may be a distinct letter. On the cylinders it has a tall stroke in the centre, f; taking the appearance of an inverted trident. I should have been inclined to pronounce it zi or ji, had I not already appropriated syllabic form.

to this

I need not say that all the above explanations are open to correction; and I fully expect before the end of the year, that the learned members of the Asiatic Society of Paris, who have now before their eyes the coins whence most of my data have been derived, with all that I had ventured to guess upon them communicated by letter, will have developed the whole alphabet, with an accuracy not to be attained, except through a previous knowledge of the ancient languages of Parthia, and Ariana.

The only types of the Pehleví character, with which we can institute a comparison of the above alphabet, are those derived from the imperfectly decyphered coins of the Sassanian dynasty of Persian monarchs; and the inscriptions on the sculptures at Nakshi-Rustam, NakshiRajab, and the Takhti-bostán. These are attributed to the same period, on the certain authority of the names of BABEC, his son ARDASHIR, and grandson SHAPUR, found not only in the Pehleví, but also in the Greek version, which fortunately accompanies some of the inscriptions. The BARON DE SACY, to whose Memoires sur les Antiquités de Perse, the learned world was indebted for the restoration of these valuable monuments of antiquity, was only able to deal with one form of the Pehleví, namely, that situated below the Greek (see KER PORTER, II. 552): for the inscriptions are generally trilingual; the version above the Greek being more rude than the other, and having a striking resemblance to the Chaldaic. KER PORTER transcribes one or two portions of the upper inscriptions in Hebrew; and informs us, that DE SACY always found this character had the same meaning as the Hebrew, when transcribed letter for letter. This author has given in Plate XV. vol. i. of his Travels, a fine facsimile in the two languages of the NakshiRustam text, which had not been decyphered at the time of the publication of his work. A considerable portion of the members of our alphabet exist precisely in the right hand version of this transcript;